News & Events

Fighting the Fires of Hate: America and the Nazi Book Burning

September 2- October 15, 2014......

Most of the book burnings occurred in cities with universities--Munich, Berlin, Frankfort and 31 others. On the pyres were titles considered to be "un-German.” Books authored by Communists, Socialists, Liberals, Pacifists, Jews and anyone disliked by the regime, were burned.

On the night of May 10, 1933, more than 25,000 books were burned across Nazi Germany.

Before the first match was struck, news of the pending censorship caught wind and spread around the world. Voices rose in opposition. In America, it was as if the Constitution was to be burned to ash. The Nazi book burnings were viewed as the deepest affront to liberty--authors whose books would be burned including Earnest Hemingway, Jack London, Sinclair Lewis and many others were vocal in their opposition.

Americans quickly condemned the events as hostile to the spirit of democracy and the freedom of expression. Fighting the Fires of Hate: America and the Nazi Book Burnings explores how the book burnings became a potent symbol in America’s battle against Nazism and why they continue to resonate with the public—in film, literature, and political discourse—to this day.

General Admission to the Museum is $10.00 for adults and $8.00 for students and seniors. No charge for Museum members.

Special thanks to Lucky Dog Books for pulling copies of banned books from their shelves and allowing us to display them in the Museum as part of this exhibit.

This exhibit was produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Per the USHMM, this exhibition was underwritten in part by grants from The Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies Foundation of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund and The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, with additional support from the Lester Robbins and Sheila Johnson Robbins traveling and Special Exhibitions Fund established in 1990.